good monday morning, everybody. right now this is "first look." tensions with north korea continue to escalate with the u.s. sending f-22 stealth fighters into the war games exercises. nearly 100 vehicles were involved in a massive pileup sunday near the virginia/north carolina border. the texas lawman who promised to hunt down the killer of his deputy was killed himself along with his wife. now the hunt for the killers. plus, an update on louisville's kevin ware and his gruesome leg, and finally, something to make you smile on this april fool's day.

good morning, everyone, i'm betty ngyun. topping our news this morning, a manhunt is under way at this hour in north texas. authorities are searching for the person that killed mike mclelland and his wife both shot to death in their home near dallas over the weekend. officials say it does not appear to be a random act. this is the county's second prosecutor to be gunned down in two months. assistant district attorney mark hasse was gunned down near the courthouse. no arrests were made in that case. tensions are escalating on the korean peninsula. the north ramped up rhetoric over the weekend declaring the neighboring nations are in a "state of war." on sunday the u.s. sent f-22 stealth fighter jets to join annual drills with its south korean allies. nbc's jim aceda is there in seoul with the latest on all of this. i've got to ask you this.

is it more rattling on from pyongyang? >> reporter: hi, betty. it probably is but it's tense north korea's missiles and artillery are combat ready and pointing, says north korea's leader, kim jong-un, at both south korean and american targets now. both sides, north and south, say they will strike if there's a provocation. kim jong-un has even threatened preemptive nuclear strikes on saturday he did that, on both south korean and u.s. targets. that's unprecedented. experts tell us that they don't even believe kim has that kind of capability. despite all of that, life here in seoul does seem to be going on here as normal. we're told that it does mask anxiety. we're told that by many south koreans, that in such a tense

atmosphere even a minor incident could trigger a conflict. that seems to be the main fear now. a miscalculation could lead to war. many south koreans do seem to seem to see kim jong-un as the young boy that cried wolf. they lived through this before. threats, rhetoric, many times before during joint military maneuvers that are going on today only to see them dialed back. still, this is korea and there's always a chance that this time could be very different. betty? >> let's hope it is rhetoric. jim in seoul. thank you. it is one of the most gruesome injuries ever seen. the fans, players were shaken. kevin ware's right leg snapped in the ncaa tournament.

the coach says, that is how they overcame the trauma. >> it was very difficult to look at and watch, but he's a brave young man because all he kept saying was, win the game. >> yes, he is because that was a tough looking break. and that break was actually reminiscent of joe theismann's monday night football injury from 1985. he tweeted his best wishes to ware. louisville beat duke to the ncaa final four. ware underwent two hours of surgery. he reportedly is resting comfortably at an indianapolis hospital. to washington, immigration reform, do they have a deal or not? democrats are claiming victory predicting legislation could be written as early as this week. republicans say not so fast. nbc's tracie potts has details. good morning, tracie. explain some of this confusion. >> reporter: sure. there's not a complete deal yet.

this gang of eight who has been working sings last fall has one of the biggest disagreements in place. the aflcio and the union have come together on a guest worker plan. how do you keep them in the country legally but not necessarily give them a path to citizenship? they've come up with some dedales that would start in 2015. up to 200,000 visas could be issued. marco rubio is on that gang of eight, but he says while there is a deal they need to go through hearings. >> tracie potts, thank you so much. we appreciate that. officials say four people were injured after a driver crashed into a california walmart and then began beating shoppers. police say the man plowed through the front of the store late sunday morning, grabbed something inside the store and then started hitting people. one shopper suffered injuries

and was taken to the hospital while three others were treated nearby. it's still not known what prompted the attack but they described the san jose man as uncooperative. at least three people have died and dozens injured yesterday after a nearly 100-car pileup littered i-77. along the virginia/north carolina border. fog caused the initial crash. there were 17 separate crashes which created a domino effect of wrecked cars and 18-wheelers. around a dozen cars swerved on a nearby truck ramp to avoid that pileup there. one driver described the scene as something out of a movie. one driver said the truck ramp saved his life. all interstates have opened up. some prominent republicans differ on the party's direction when it comes to same-sex marriage. a former rnc chairman says marriage equality will never be in a gop platform but a sitting

senator said it's bound to happen. >> i don't think you'd ever see the republican party platform say we're in favor of same-sex marriage. >> could you support a republican presidential candidate some day who supported same-sex marriage? >> i think that's inevitable. there will be one and i think he'll receive republican support or she will. virginia republican governor bob mcdonnell has some explaining to do about a questionable undisclosed donation. all of this goes back to this 2011 wedding of mcdonnell's daughter. there was $15,000 worth of free catering at his daughter's wedding. the company is the subject of a federal securities investigation. meanwhile, the man who wants to replace mcdonnell is himself coming under fire for some substantial stock holdings in that company. republican state attorney

general failed to disclose more than $10,000 in star scientific. the problem has been corrected but in 2011 his office defendeds that company. president obama and his family took a stroll across lafayette park to st. john's church. lewis leon delivered the holiday sermon urging the congregation not to turn back on faith. one member of the first family was not at that easter service but celebrated in his own way. how cute. the white house dog, bo, tweeted this picture of the first dog. the white house did, in fact, bo wearing funny ears and getting in the spirit. and caroline kennedy is out with her tenth book. this time an anthology of poems for young people titled "poems to learn by heart." she went through one of her mother's scrap books for inspiration. it includes entries from her own three children. that, my friends, is your dish

of scrambled politics this morning. now for a look at the national weather outside. it is finally here, april fool's, no joke though. >> no. >> nice weather. >> it is a big april fool's for everyone in the midwest. today is the white house easter egg roll. weather should be okay in d.c. for that but not for baseball game. these opening games are going to be frigid. let's start with the rain that moved through new england late yesterday. the showers came through pretty late in the day. that is moving up through the state of maine where it's raining hard. we even have snow micking in. it's cold enough. be careful driving up to 95. we have some rain from atlanta, exiting atlanta and georgia and south carolina. it's a little damp down here. that about does it. the thing that we're going to pay attention to is this cold air on april 1st. it is 14 in fargo. that's the temporary tush. temperature 21 in minneapolis where they're going to play an outdoor baseball game with wind chills in the low 20s and high

temperature 32 degrees. the white sox have a home game. it will be frigid in chicago, too. when are we finally going to get done with this cold air? it looks like we have one more blast of cold and then it will begin to improve. here's the blue and purple. that shows you where the heart of the cold air is today. as we go throughout tuesday and wednesday, it's shifted to new england. we finally kick all the cold air north up into canada. by sunday and monday much of the country will be in a warming trend, especially the northern half of the country. a very cold april day. northern plains, great lakes, all of that cold air, betty, will make its way to new england and the mid-atlantic. for those on the east coast, enjoy what's left of the warmth today. >> we will. your monday morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, nelson mandela spent easter in the hospital. we'll tell you how he's doing. massive flooding washes cars away. baseball fangs everywhere,

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here are some stories making news this morning. nelson mandela spent the easter holiday in a south african hospital. they say the 94-year-old is responding well to treatment for pneumonia. a state trooper's helicopter went down in alaska last night killing three people. for the first time a woman is reportedly a leading contender to take over at the fbi. lisa monaco serves as president obama's counterterrorism adviser. "the washington post" says she's next in line for the job. director robert mueller stepping down in september after 12 years on the job. new york cardinal timothy dolan says the catholic church should be more welcoming to gay people. he tells abc the catholic church loves gays and lesbians despite opposition to same-sex marriage. >> we need to do better to be sure that our defense of marriage is not reduced to an

attack on gay people. i admit we haven't been too good on that. and to the island off the southeast coast of africa, massive flooding there. it has killed at least ten people in the catholic city. many of the victims were swept away by fast rising waters. more than six inches of rain fell in less than an hour and more unfortunately is expected. to the world of wall street now. cnbc's jackie deangelis joins us. good morning to you. >> good morning, betty. the markets are looking to continue their winning ways. this is as we kick off the second quarter. the dow is coming off the best first quarter since 1998. april has been the best year for the dot. manufacturers are going to give out numbers. later look for the auto sales and jobs reports on friday. we're looking at cyprus after

banks reopened last week. treasury secretary jack lu, he is headed to europe next week to discuss that situation. >> big week for business. thank you, jackie. also overnight, a major set back for drug company novartis. india's highest court denied a patent for a cancer drug. exxonmobile continues to clean up thousands of barrels of heavy crude oil that's been leaking in the town of mayflower, arkansas. the pipeline carries 90,000 barrels a day from illinois to texas. it was shut down friday. residents from 22 homes were evacuated. check this out, it is a vintd taj "sergeant peppers i "album autographed for a whopping $290,000. it's believed that the fab four actually signed this album back in june of 1967. boy, that's a collector's item. would you spend a cool million bucks if you could buy

something that is worth 80 million bucks. it's an $80 million ice breaking ferry. it's for sale by the state of alaska. so far though, only one bid has come in and it's for just 751,000. you might have a deal on your hands if you're interested. employers, beware. better expect more than a,000 people calling out sick. it is opening day around the nation. plus, bottoms up. a professional golfer dropped his drawers on the green. there it goes. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. my dentist said it was goa help transform my mouth. [ male announcer ] go pro. for a clean that's up to four times better, try these crest pro-health products together. [ sara ] i've been using crest pro-health. so far...it feels different. [ male announcer ] crest pro-health protects not just some, but all these areas dentists check most. my mouth feels healthier. it feels cleaner. i think my dentist is gonna see the difference. [ male announcer ] go pro with crest pro-health.

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try post shredded wheat. this has been medifacts for post shredded wheat. we want to turn now to the issues moving in washington this morning. immigration and same-sex marriage. joining me now is "roll call's" jonathan strong. thanks for being with us. i want to begin with immigration reform. the question today is is there a deal as democrats are saying or are we just not quite there yet? >> yeah, yesterday marco rubio issued a statement about 30 minutes before the sunday shows aired, you know, kind of throwing cold water on the idea that there was really a deal and that, i think, is a pretty big red flag because he's in such an important position in those talks. i think they're really close and i'm not ready to say it's a failure, but it's just a troubling sign. >> yeah. all right. on the sunday shows though

former rnc chair ed gillespie said same-sex marriage will never be on a platform but republican senator jeff flake said he believes the gop 2016 presidential candidate will support same-sex marriage. is the gop hopelessly on the fence here? >> well, this issue is changing so fast that it's hard to kind of understand where it'll be in a few years, but i do think that gillespie has a point that it would really fracture the republican coalition because they rely on those evangelical social voters at the polls. if they lost them, then they wouldn't have even close to a winning coalition as we understand the party right now. >> "roll call's" jonathan strong. we appreciate you phoning in. >> thanks very much. here's your first look at some of the other news. powerball winner pedro quezada is spreading the wealth. the $338 million winner has agreed, get this, to pay the

rent for everybody living on his block. >> it's pretty cool that he said that he would do something like that, you know? >> yeah, it is. good gesture is expected to last one or two months. not bad at all. now to massachusetts for an easter egg hunt like no other. the perkins school for the blind, get this, they scattered hundreds of beeping eggs for a third annual spring egg hunt. very cute there. a california easter bunny found himself in hot water for riding a motorcycle without a helmet. the rabbit was visibly upset but they let him off with a warning and a lecture before letting him on to a charity event. and, finally, two baby lemurs are making the worldwide debut at the toledo zoo. they clung to their mother's fur. all visitors lined up to see the adorable primates for the first time. the pair of newborns though came a week apart, one on march 20th and the other just days ago.

to sports now and an update on college basketball and kevin ware ae injury? did you see it? the louisville guard had two hours of successful surgery on his broken leg as doctors inserted a steel rod. they made a second half surge for 85-68 win. and michigan is headed back to the final four for the first time in 20 years. let's look at the brackets now. louisville will face wichita state at the georgia dome next saturday. michigan takes on syracuse in the other national semifinal. the winners will advance to the championship game on april 8th. good luck, everybody. on the women's side, number five seed louisville pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the history of women's ncaa tournament action defeating baylor 82-81. that was a game. the nba now new york's player hit a buzzer beater at the end of the first half

against boston. he celebrated and the knicks went to their eighth straight win. 108-89. what a shot. major league baseball opened the season with houston in its first season in the american league getting some big hits including the three-run homer. the astros beat the rangers 8-2. major leaguers are getting new bats this season with a new logo. a new design with a harder hitting maple wood. european challenge tournament in morocco. a danish golfer made a chip shot from a water hazard for which he had to take off his pants, socks and shoes. that's quite a sight. usain bolt won an exhibition race on the beach of rio de

janeiro. after the race bolt showed off some dance moves. not bad. just ahead, what is leading the news. plus, g.i. joe takes it by storm this weekend. and one of the greatest entertainers has died. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ male announcer ] i've seen incredible things. otherworldly things. but there are some things i've never seen before. this ge jet engine can understand 5,000 data samples per second. which is good for business. because planes use less fuel, spend less time on the ground and more time in the air.

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"g.i. joe" had the weekend box office dead in its sights. it took first place over easter weekend with $41 million. "the croods" pulled in $26 million. tyler perry's "temptation" did better than expected with $22

million. "glee's" store cory monteith checked himself into rehab. legendary music producer phil ramon died at the age of 79. he's a legend in the business who has worked with giants like billy joel, paul simon, barbara streisand and ray charles. i'm betty nguyen. "way too early" starts right now. good morning, i'm bill karins and this is "way too early." thanks for being up with us on this monday, april fool's day. we have a lot to cover today including new signs that even background checks are dead on arrival in the senate. now some republican lawmakers are threatening a filibuster calling it a bridge too far. for what's left. overseas, a man who's being dogged egypt's jon stewart thrown in jail after speaking out against the government of president muhammad morsi. not a good sign for the government there. finally, a